1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to propellants for liquid propellant guns.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The military is, at the present time, experimenting with what are commonly called liquid propellant guns or, still more commonly, LPG's. A liquid propellant gun (LPG) is one which utilizes, instead of the usual solid powder and primer propulsion means, a liquid propulsion means. The potential advantages of such a gun over presently used guns are many. One advantage is that brass cartridges are not used. This eliminates storage and policing up problems. Another advantage resides in the probability that greater muzzle velocities can be achieved with LPG's than are presently possible with conventional guns. Still other potential advantages exist. However, this invention resides in a propellant for a liquid propellant gun and not in a liquid propellant gun per se so these further potential advantages will not be gone into here.
One method for firing a liquid propellant gun is to inject two liquid chemical components into a chamber behind the projectile and apply a spark to cause the two liquid components to combust and produce gases which, in turn, propel the projectile. (This, with the exception that both components are liquids, is very similar to the way in which an automobile is propelled by injecting gasoline and air and subjecting them to a spark behind a piston.)
When two liquids are injected to fire a LPG, they are injected from separate containers into the gun chamber. When they come together, in the gun chamber, they must not react spontaneously. That is, they must mix and wait until a spark is applied before reacting.